What key Goa wins mean for Congress-AAP alliance: LS seat to Benaulim zilla panchayat

Three weeks after its victory in the Lok Sabha elections in the South Goa constituency, one of the two Goa seats, the INDIA alliance comprising the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has now clinched a crucial zilla panchayat bypoll in the state.

AAP candidate Joseph Pimenta won the Benaulim zilla panchayat bypoll in South Goa, polling 5672 votes – 54.06 percent of total votes – defeating three Independent candidates including Congress “rebel” Royla Fernandes. Though the ruling BJP did not field a candidate in this bypoll, the INDIA bloc leaders accused it of “tacitly supporting” the Independents, especially the Congress rebel.

The bypoll for the OBC-reserved zilla panchayat seat was held after its AAP incumbent Hanzel Fernandes was disqualified over his false caste certificate.

Being the first election in Goa after the Lok Sabha polls, the Benaulim zilla panchayat seat bypoll assumed significance for the INDIA alliance in terms of its future prospects too.

In the Lok Sabha polls, only the Congress fielded its candidates in both the seats, where the AAP threw its weight behind them. The Congress bagged the South Goa seat, but lost North Goa to the BJP.

In the 2022 state Assembly polls however, both the parties had fought separately, with the incumbent BJP returning to power after winning 20 seats out of 40, with the Congress getting 11. Later, 8 Congress MLAs defected to the BJP, leaving just 3 legislators with the grand old party now.

Making its first foray into the Goa Assembly polls in 2017, the AAP had drawn a blank. Significantly, the party achieved its first electoral victory in the state by winning the Benaulim zila panchayat seat in 2020.

The 2022 state polls saw the AAP expanding its footprint and winning two seats, Velim and Benaulim, both in South Goa.

In the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the INDIA alliance first found itself on shaky grounds in Goa, with the AAP unilaterally announcing its candidate for South Goa – where Congress had a sitting MP – and blamed the Congress for the “delay in finalising seat-sharing”. However, the two allies later resolved their differences, sealing a deal as part of which the AAP agreed to back the Congress candidates in both seats.

In the South Goa Lok Sabha constituency, a traditional Congress bastion, the party's Captain Viriato Fernandes defeated the BJP’s Pallavi Dempo in a close contest by 13, 535 votes. In South Goa's Velim and Benaulim Assembly segments – where the AAP won in 2022 – the Congress got a lead of 27, 531 votes over the BJP, which was attributed to, among other factors, the AAP’s cadre support and the consolidation of its votes in favour of the Congress candidate.

In a joint press conference held after the Lok Sabha poll results, the INDIA bloc leaders – from the Congress, AAP, Goa Forward Party (GFP), NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) and Shiv Sena (UBT) – expressed their willingness to put aside “ideological and personal differences” for a united Opposition to ensure the BJP’s defeat in Goa.

The Congress’s Yuri Alemao, Leader of the Opposition, had then claimed that going by the Lok Sabha polls the INDIA alliance could win 30 seats in the 2027 Assembly polls if they fought together.

Buoyed by the Benaulim zilla panchayat bypoll win, Goa AAP president Amit Palekar said the INDIA alliance would be key to ensure the defeat of the BJP in the 2027 Assembly elections. “This win has shown that the Opposition unity can defeat the BJP and their proxies. Though state elections are in 2027, it is premature to talk about specifics or seat sharing, but this alliance will go ahead. Over two-thirds of voters voted against BJP here, so to avoid a split in the Opposition's votes, it is important to stitch an alliance to defeat BJP,” said Palekar.

Conceding that the AAP cadre were upset after the party decided to support the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections, Palekar said, “Both the parties had to make sacrifices in the larger interest of the state. In the bypoll, Congress decided to support our candidate under the alliance. It was the right decision.”

State Congress chief Amit Patkar was more measured on the possibility of the Opposition parties fighting the 2027 polls together. “There is still time. At present, an effort has been made by our Leader of Opposition to have a united front in the House... It is too early to commit to anything. As party president, my focus is to build the party in all constituencies. Every state has its own equations and dynamics. For instance, in Punjab, we are in the Opposition, and AAP is in power,” Patkar said.

“For the Lok Sabha election, all the parties in Opposition came to an understanding to unite and fight together. Initially, AAP declared their candidate much before us. But, in the interest of Goa, we convinced them to have a united front and eventually they withdrew their candidate and supported us. Now, before the results were declared, the zilla panchayat by-election date was announced. This seat was held by AAP and the candidate was disqualified due to technical reasons. So, as part of the alliance, we held a meeting and came to a consensus to support AAP,” he added.

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